Macmillan

11/10/2011

First, a bit of business: Kidliterate now has a Facebook page, and I am giving away books every time we get a hundred new followers. When we got to 100, I gave away a complete set of Emily Jenkins' TOYS series in hardcover! So go here to like us on Facebook. Don't worry - we don't post often, so we won't be clogging up your feed!

So even though I still want more Creel (MORE!), I can't possibly stay mad at someone who writes these books I love so much. Because, my friends, she went and did it again - and not in a Britney type of way. This time, she's gone and created Princess Celie, and darned if I'm not head over heels again.

Celie lives in Castle Glower, where Tuesdays are amazing. Why, you ask? Because on Tuesdays, the castle gets bored and changes itself. It might rearrange some corridors, or add a new room or two, or stick an entire wing on one end, or pop on some new towers. That door you take to get where you go? Might not be there on Tuesday. It was certainly frustrating to some visitors, but "Celie truly loved Castle Glower. She never minded being late for lessons because the corridor outside her room had become twice as long, and she certainly didn't mind the new room in the south wing that had a bouncy floor. Even if you could only get to it by climbing through the fireplace of the Winter Dining Hall." And Celie felt like the Castle loved her, too. Whenever she urgently needed to be somewhere, she could usually get there quickly. When she was sick, the Castle filled her room with flowers. It left her snacks when she was hungry and led her to fun places when she needed something to do.

Not only does the Castle change itself when bored, it also changes itself to alter circumstances or to help a situation along. The current King, Celie's father, was chosen by the Castle. If the Castle furnished a visitor's room poorly, the guards knew to keep a close eye on them. It seemed like the Castle truly knew everyone and exactly what was going on, all the time.

So when Celie's parents and older brother disappear and she and her sister and younger brother are left alone with a Council that doesn't seem all that broken up about the vanished royals, it is to the Castle that the prince and princesses turn for help. But when the situation turns ever more dangerous and even the Castle seems unable to help, will Celie be able to save her family?

This is a GREAT read-aloud. It's also perfect for kids who love Gail Carson Levine or Jean Ferris or E.D. Baker. This is younger than Ms. George's other books, though fans of DRAGON SLIPPERS will find much to love here. I love feisty, whipsmart Celie and the motley band of allies she assembles under the watchful eyes of the Council scoundrels. I love how she learns and grows during the book but the learning and growing is all wrapped in rollicking adventure and secret passageways and spying and the most awesome Castle in kids' books. I love her relationship with her siblings, especially Rolf, the king's heir. I love how when you read this book, you can go from heart-pounding excitement to loud laughter on the same page.

AND it's the first book of three, so we've got two to go, and then you can all be mad with me at the end. At least until Jessica Day George pulls another awesome heroine out of her seemingly endless bag of tricks. **Correction - Ms. George tells me that she doesn't know how many books there will be about Castle Glower, and that it's not intended to be a trilogy. Sad face. Well, I love this one, and will be hopeful of more!**

10/09/2011

Before I start writing the actual review, I feel compelled to make something clear: OKAY FOR NOW by Gary Schmidt is my Newbery pick, and has been since the moment I read it. Months ago. In manuscript. On my iPhone. Three times in a row.

But this book is going to give it a run for its money, and justifiably so.

Ollie Love's daddy is a traveling preacher, the kind who moves his family around the country, setting up a revival tent and bringing the Word to the far-flung masses. Ollie knows the drill by now - they'll be there three days at the most; the townspeople will come and listen; her daddy will do his best to bring the people what he thinks they need; and then the family will move on. And it used to be exciting, the life on the open road, a new town at least once a week - but Ollie's a little older now, and times are changing, and she's thinking it would be mighty nice to settle down in one place with her daddy installed in his own church and the family installed in their own house. With plumbing, and electricity, and a town school Ollie and her siblings could go to every day. Ollie believes in what her daddy does, in what her family does, but she longs for more - she just doesn't know how to say it, because the idea of disappointing her beloved father is not one she can fully contemplate.

But on their first day in BInder, Ollie meets Luke, whose mom is in jail for killing his dad. Luke tells Ollie his mom is innocent, and Ollie believes him. She also believes that the only person who could convince the town that Luke's mom is innocent is her daddy - if only she can get him to stay around long enough to do it. This 1957 Arkansas town is filled with people who believe Luke's mama was as no-good as his daddy, and that Luke is destined to follow in their footsteps. A little investigation by Ollie, however, reveals a sad story of abuse and a house where all love has been strangled into nonexistence. Her kind heart and the sense of justice her family's instilled in her will not allow her to leave Luke's story alone, and with the help of her family and a kindhearted woman in town, Mrs. Mahoney, she sets out to make things right.

Some at Goodreads have described this as "To Kill A Mockingbird for the middle-grade set." I am often reluctant to compare anything to a classic, especially such an iconic, universally beloved one as TKAM, but I don't think the comparison hurts WANLL one bit. Ollie's a marvelous, Scout-like character with a strong sense of family and a sudden devotion to social justice that is breathtaking in the way it grabs hold of her. Her view of the world changes so many times during the course of this novel, and she grows up quickly in some very important ways. You know she is going to grow up to be an extraordinary woman outside the pages of her story, and you are lucky for every moment you spend in her company within it.

I am actually tearing up all over again just thinking about this marvelous debut novel from Tess Hilmo. I was on the ABA New Voices committee this year (which will get its own post, as it happened entirely during the many months this site sat near-dormant), and when we were readying our personal picks for finalists, this book came up during the discussion. For some reason, most of us hadn't gotten a copy, and the committee members who had felt so strongly about it that they rushed us out an email version of the manuscript. By the time we all quickly finished it, I think we all knew it would make the list handily. And to think we nearly missed it!

This one will have a long, long, incredibly deserved life, and I can only say the same for Tess Hilmo's career.